The Mole Bowl

The Mole Bowl

SKIN CANCERS ACCOUNT FOR 80 -PERCENT OF ALL NEW CANCERS DIAGNOSED EACH YEAR. THAT MEANS 430-THOUSAND PEOPLE WILL BE TOLD THEY HAVE IT IN 2012. AND WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT SKIN CANCER COULD END UP KILLING YOU. GET READY TO PUT YOU TO THE TEST... IN TONIGHT'S HEALTHCAST.IT'S TIME TO PLAY-MOLE MADNESS! FIRST QUESTION-WHERE DOES SKIN CANCER NOT OCCUR? BETWEEN YOUR TOES? ON YOUR PALMS? UNDER YOUR FINGERNAILS? OR ON YOUR LIPS?THE ANSWER- SKIN CANCER CAN HAPPEN IN ALL OF THESE PLACES! NEXT QUESTION-SIMPLY STAYING IN THE SHADE CAN PROTECT YOU FROM GETTING SKIN CANCER? SHADE ALONE CAN REDUCE YOUR EXPOSURE TO ULTRA-VIOLET RAYS BY 75 PERCENT! BUT YOU SHOULD STILL USE A SUNSCREEN OF AT LEAST S-P-F 30 AT ALL TIMES. THIS IS A TOUGH ONE. WHICH MOLE IS NOT MELANOMA? TRICK QUESTION! ALL OF THEM ARE MELANOMA!DETECTING AND DIAGNOSING IT CAN BE TRICKY. THE ONLY WAY IS THROUGH A BIOPSY, BUT EVEN THEN, CORNELL DERMATOLOGIST JOHANTHAN ZIPPIN SAYS IT'S NOT THAT EASY. "The problem is, this grey area, is a controversial area. A lot of people don't know how to define it." ONCE THE MOLE IS TESTED, PATHOLOGISTS AGREE ON JUST 60 TO 75-PERCENT OF THE CASES. THAT'S WHY DOCTOR ZIPPIN HAS CREATED A NEW DIAGNOSTIC TEST THAT HELPS ELIMINATE THIS 'GREY' AREA. "It's a test that looks for a certain protein in the melanoma or mole." THE PROTEIN, CALLED SAC IS EXPRESSED IN ALL CELLS. "It's not a question of whether it's there or not, it's a question of where it is." THE RED IN THIS CELL IS THE SAC PROTEIN. THE BLUE IS THE CELL NUCLEUS. WHEN THE RED IS NEXT TO THE BLUE, THINGS ARE NORMAL. IF THE RED IS ON TOP OF THE BLUE, THE MOLE IS CANCEROUS. "If it's in this area it's bad and if it's in this area it's good. It's much simpler and much more consistently interpreted." IMPROVING YOUR MELANOMA KNOWLEDGE.DOCTOR ZIPPIN SAYS HIS PROTEIN TEST IS STILL IN THE RESEARCH PHASE, BUT DOCTORS CAN SEND THEIR BIOPSIES TO CORNELL AND HIS TEAM WILL RUN THE TEST FOR THEM. ALSO DON'T LEAVE YOUR MOLE HEALTH JUST TO YOUR DOCTOR. EXPERTS SAY YOU SHOULD CHECK YOUR MOLES EACH MONTH. TO KEEP TRACK OF ANY CHANGES GO TO http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/early-detection TO DOWNLOAD A PRINTABLE BODY MAP.